Testing for more reliable wave energy tech
A 2-day workshop at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) highlighted progress made to date towards the creation of a hybrid testing facility for ocean energy technology. The workshop was held as part of the EU-funded VALID project that is developing a new test rig platform and methodology for accelerated hybrid testing that can be used across the wave energy sector.
The virtues of hybrid testing
Reliability testing in the early stages of a wave energy technology’s development is costly because of the numerous uncertainties and potential design pathways that need investigating. However, leaving testing for later when a full prototype has been built also has its pitfalls, since the cost of fixing any problems identified may be prohibitive. The VALID project’s accelerated hybrid testing methodology tackles this problem by combining data from different sources: a real environment (the ocean), a lab environment (test rigs) and a virtual environment (numerical models). This helps scientists gain greater insight into what is needed to create a good design early in the technology’s development. As reported in a news item posted on the VALID website, the meeting “marked the first time project partners have successfully coupled a component test rig to a Wave2Wire model with a feedback loop.” Wave-to-wire models are numerical tools that can model the entire chain of energy conversion, from the interaction between wave energy converters and ocean waves right through to the electricity being fed to the grid. Swedish project partner CorPower Ocean’s seal testing rig forms the physical part of the hybrid set-up while its wave-to-wire model forms the simulated part. In addition, the workshop offered VALID consortium members the opportunity to observe Danish project partner Wavepiston’s hydraulic ram testing rig in action. One of the project’s three use cases, Wavepiston also demonstrated their initial close-loop hybrid test at project partner DTU’s testing facility. According to the news item, the Wavepiston team has completed more than 500 000 displacement cycles in accelerated testing since October 2022, resulting only in expected leaks and no major issues. The project partners plan to incorporate virtual modelling to transition to full-scale hybrid testing later on in 2023. “Following a few minor modifications and enhancements, the Wavepiston team has been able to run the initial closed-loop hybrid tests successfully. We have validated the setup and we are confident that it will be successful during the full-scale hybrid testing that is planned to begin in June this year,” reports Wavepiston’s Development Engineer Troels Lukassen. The VALID (Verification through Accelerated testing Leading to Improved wave energy Designs) project ends in November 2023. For more information, please see: VALID project website
Keywords
VALID, ocean, wave, energy, hybrid testing, wave energy